HeOw, I'm back on the 55-70 plan but have swapped today with Saturday as I don't have time for doubles today -- am at work till 6.15 then have to go straight to twatty pilates class miles away, after which I'll be too hungry for any running.

I have a twatty pilates class tomorrow, there was a class taking place this morning while I was on the treadmilll doing my recovery run...looks easy !! they dont work up much of a sweat do they...bet I wont be saying that on thursday 24 hours after working things I have long forgotten about !!

Well... some of it is quite easy (gentle warming up) but it's a lot to do with core stability, which is the thing you said you needed. Also it makes your pelvic floor muscles stronger, a reason I will never wee myself during a tempo run (@ HeOw).

My pilates class is hardcore, though, and often involves me being made to hold a plank for ages while everyone else who's given up sits around watching.

doing a 10 mile race in Llanelli on Sunday Craig. Its normally windy down there, so will see how conditions are on the day. But I'm leaning towards giving it a bit of a go, but not quite flat out. If I were you I'd ditch the LT on Friday and replace for something less demanding. I really felt the LT still in the legs last week when i did Parkrun and that was only doing 5k. The half mara will be a true LT run over distance anyway so keep that as the focus for this week maybe? Again, please feel free to ignore as I may be way off the mark - on that note, I find it funny how I can try to offer advise on others training but am clueless when it comes to my own?! Maybe thats why this thread is so good, as a step back from things.

I'm the same Chris, sometimes it's good to hear it from someone else, I'll have to admit I have taken a fair bit of advice of HeOw, think I might substitute the run on Friday with something else and have a good run on Sunday, I'm not expert at all and most of the time push myself to hard and in the past have ended up injured, I just don't seem to learn.

decided on 12 with 4 at hmp (6.20) and it went ok but was a bit tired and achey at the end so a 3 mile recovery later and a rest day tomorrow. I realise that without something approaching a proper taper I wont be pb racing Sunday.

Actually, I'm after some advice too -- this week's Sunday run is 15 with 12 at MP, but I missed 9 days last week, so missed a 21-mile LSR. I'm tempted to do the 21 miler on Sunday instead of the MP run, but that might just be because I'm lazy and I like long runs better than hard ones.

I'm doing a half marathon the week after, which I'm planning to do a mini-taper for and race properly, though it doesn't look much like a PB course (massive great hills).

So what do people think is more important: making up the total number of long runs, or doing the marathon pace miles to get a feel for the pace?

I missed an 18 miler with 8 at MRP Literatin when I was ill. I replaced my 16 with a 20 with 10 at MRP but I'm aiming to do 5 x 20/22 milers as the sub 55 is low on them.

Craig - you will see how great a runner you could be after this plan as I reckon working on your aerobic base rather than killing every session like you used to will be the making of you. There's a talented runner already in you but I think there's a pretty brilliant one waiting to come out. I think a lot of runners are frightened to run easy but they aren't training to the best of their advantage. I never did, too ego driven to run slower than I should, obsessed with stats looking good! It makes you a one pace pony and leads to exhaustion and injury and come race day, nothing can be pulled out. I read last night that even a 2 mile race needs 92% aerobic fitness and only 8% anaerobic so unless you're training for an 100m race, at least 50% (it's actually a lot more!) should ran very easy. Night Nurse stands out to me as someone who trains spot on and is someone I am learning buckets from. If I don't smash my HM PB Sunday, I know I need to drop my easy pace down a notch.

Chickadee - the right decision and I hope you are ok. Your times are very inspiring to me by the way, brilliant.

Chris - yes, do the 10 miler and bloody go nail it mate. Could you not do the 15 miles with MRP mid week and swap the LT run for the 10 miler?

Good running Ten - are you feeling back on form?

Mark - I hear you, I too did my long runs 6 days apart and guess what, I seem to have picked up a niggle too. The lower part of arch of foot (nearer to toes than heel) has been a bit sore since Friday (no idea what it is). I have done 7 miles with strides yesterday and easyish 8 miles tonight (in new Mizuno trainers) and it is a bit niggly tonight, just tender when I press it. May have to bench myself for couple of days. In 10 years of running and 18 months of marathon training on and off, I haven't had anything like this before. I do believe the trainers I were running in have caused it as they had had their full innings and were on their way out. Anyone any ideas what it is?

Thanks, HeOw. I keep telling people if I can go sub 3:30, anyone can . Hope your niggle buggers off . I tend to ignore foot niggles and usually they go away on their own.

Morning, I did 12 today progressively getting faster and finishing around 7:20 pace, just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how I should train this week. I have 11 tomorrow, 5 recovery then 9 mile LT run on Friday. I am supposed to have 17 on Sunday but am running a half marathon, should I just continue as normal and drop the 4 miles or juggle stuff around a little. Any ideas would help.

Wot Fiona said, craig - stick some miles on either end (warm up and cool down).

Ziggy: wowzer, some bloody brilliant hardcore running!

Lit: I'd go for the 21 miler too. Although I find MP in 20+ runs priddy hard. Try and hold back and do those early miles even slower than you normally would (think of that marathon talk interviewee girl that ran 2:53 - she did the slow part of her MP run at 9mm).

Agent Ginger - I think that some of my niggles are due to long hours at my desk. I've recently started to try to stretch my hips and hamstrings without anyone at work noticing. But I just think that they think I'm weird.

Lit I'd be careful with injury of a 20+ with MP at this stage. You've already proved speed over shorter distances so maybe just go long this week and/or throw a few MP miles into one of the mlr's. Plenty of time to still get the MP miles in during March.

Markf, thanks -- I honestly think I'm over the injury (or rather headed it off before it became one) but I also have to remind myself that I've never actually run further than 20 miles before! I'll see how the rest of the week goes. But my sports massage yesterday wasn't painful either, so I think that's a good sign!

Previously bookmarked threads are now visible in "Followed Threads". You can also manage notifications on these threads from the "Forum Settings" section of your profile settings page to prevent being sent an email when a reply is made.

Runner's World is a publication of Hearst Magazines UK which is the trading name of The National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved. Runner's World, Part of the Hearst UK wellbeing network